posted on: Friday, December 31, 2010

I would have loved to see the reaction on her husband when she pulled up with this pink beauty on her car...I am sure said said, "If you can have horns on the front of your car, why can't I have a cute mustache?" Peeps in Montana like horns on their cars. It's how we roll.

posted on: Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hello, my name is Halsey and I like to wait until the last minute to do things.

I really procrastinated this year. I sent my Christmas New Years cards out yesterday. ahhhhhhhhhh!

Anyway, I thought that it would be neat to take the cards to our friends and familie's houses and give them an extra surprise. Why not bring in the New Year with a POP?

This printable would also be great to put on New Year's Eve party favors, right?

And can you guess what my newest splurge was that totally gave this give some added spunk? That's right when we were in Denver last week I hit up Crate and Barrel and contained myself from not buying the ENTIRE store, instead I walked out with two lovely spools of baker's twine. It the coolest thing next to sliced bread, and believe me I have lived without sliced bread and sandwiches are not nearly the same.

So if you want this free printable to make YOUR OWN awesome New Year's party favors you can get it here!

posted on: Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Growing up I remember sitting on the pews at church and combing through the "quiet" books that my Mom had made to tame us down. I loved playing with the velcro balloons, braiding the yarn hair on the dolls, and combing over the fabric pages week after week.

I have been meaning to make Punk a book of his own but alas my procrastination got the better of me and I failed. kind of. Hunk's Mom surprised Punk with his own "quiet" book on Christmas. Let's just say that Punk was more interested in the gift tags and wrapping paper then the gifts themselves.

Yesterday, however, I was able to get him to sit quietly for about two minutes as I read "Opal Owl" to him, as he sat there he rubbed the pages, played with the strings, and tried to pull the beads off the pages. When he decided the book would make a better chew I knew he was finished with "quiet" time for the day.

The book starts out:

"There is a beautiful forest filled with trees reaching for the sky. It's ground is covered in soft mossy playgrounds and is spattered with frilly ferns and lush wild flowers. A heavenlly land with velvety afternoon breezes singing through the leaves. This is when all the little animals nap in the shade of the Madrone trees...."

It really is a wonderful little book. Opal shares the "gifts" that each one of his friends have given him. The gifts themselves have nothing to do with possessions but rather the gifts are the simple pleasure of: joy, playtime, sophistication, maturity, friendship, and quickness.

If you are interested in making your own Opal Owl quiet book they can be found here and here!

posted on: Monday, December 27, 2010

Merry {late} Christmas!

I seriously go through a little bout of depression once Christmas is over. The presents are gone, the lovely holiday music begins to die off, and my excuse for eating 3000 calories a day ends. Seriously. A few tears were shed last night when I realized that I had to choose between fitting into my jeans or eating the last mint chocolate truffle...I love chocolate truffles and I love jeans. Sad. Day.

Anywho, the Jolly Ol' Man left some amazing gifts at our house. I feel so blessed for the many thoughtful letters, cards, treats, and presents that were given to us. Hunk is such an amazing man, I love him more and more everyday. He totally surprised me this year with a new lil' camera. He rocks my world just so ya'll know.

I also feel as though I have the best family in the world--they know me all to well. I got new nail polish that is sa-weet, a bran-spankin' new whirley pop, and my very own copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I also now understand the meaning of want vs. need. Yeah, we NEEDED a new vaccuum, let just say my carpet and our old vaccuum ended the four year relationship about six months ago (ahhhhhh, six months without a cleaning, I can't believe I just admitted that)!

Christmas was so wonderful and full of so many surprises, AND because I love surprises so much, I am going to help you surprise your little babe with a post-Christmas gift?!!!!

First, she is going to give away this adorable onesie set. I sometimes wish I had a girl, because if I did I would dress her up in cute oneies and accessorize her outfits with flowers, bows, ribbons, and LOTS AND LOTS OF PINK! Yes, she would become a walking mini-me!!!!!!

Wait! Is that Punk in a dress?!....Fact: sometimes I will go to desperate measure to have a baby girl in my house. BUT I love my punk and his garbage eating, cat attacking, slobbering personality so I guess I will settle for cars, blocks and dinosaurs for right now.

Okay back on subject.

So Miss Anna, did I mention she is my fa-reakin' cute sis-in-law. Yeah, she is cute, and you know how I was talking about having a cute little baby girl, well she has two of them. jealous.

But don't worry she also sells lots of boy stuff too!

Not only is she giving away a precious onesie set for a darling baby girl, but she is also giving away a pair of adorable pants and rubber socks for one lucky boy! Yes, I did say rubber socks, they are amazing! They have hard rubber soles, but the flexibility of a sock on top! awesome, huh?

And look at some of the other cute things she makes! I love love love her tutu's. I have always wanted one for myself, but I haven't found an excuse to wear one yet.

posted on: Monday, December 20, 2010

I feel as though I sometimes forget the true meaning of Christmas. Between finding the perfect Charlie Brown tree, Santa pictures, ugly sweater parties and strolls I sometimes get so wrapped up in the commericalization of Christmas that I forget the true meaning of the season. I love you all, but now is the time I need to give my Hunk and Punk some much needed TLC. So I hope you'll not judge me for taking a break until after Christmas.

My wish to you:I hope you can get stuck under the mistle toe with you honey and enjoy a smooch or two.

I hope you take a moment to read Luke 2.

I hope you wake up Christmas morning to the bubbly faces of your babes.

I hope you enjoy the gifts of friends and family more than the little boxes under the tree.

So from our house to yours we hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas.

posted on: Sunday, December 19, 2010

So we are finally home from our random, last minute, on a whim trip to Denver. I will let you in on a little secret: I hate flying, we were even in first class and I still thought I was going to see my french toast again from that morning. Sooo, the trip was awesome, the flights were not. I will show you in a few days all the lovely treasures I found.

And I know I was suppose to post the lovely winners last night, but I got a bit side tracked by the movie Tangled.Yeah, I laughed...a lot and now I need to talk Hunk into letting me get a pet chameleon.

Anyway back to the issue at hand...and the lovely winners areeeee-----

posted on: Thursday, December 16, 2010

Sooo, I am in Denver right now. Long story, but we decided late last night we needed a trip. Two tickets later we are now here visiting one of Hunk's older brothers.

Anywayssssss, I want to introduce you to this fantastic blog called Creative Mommas. Let me just say that Dacia and Chelsea are not only super adorable, but they have this super cute blog.

Check 'um out and give 'um some lovin'...
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We are sisters that love to create! We both had our own personal blogs, but our projects were taking those over. So, we decided to start a blog together and share everything that we create! We love to make things more beautiful, inspire, share our talents, and learn from you all along the way. We do all things, paper and fabric crafts, decor, sewing clothes, making accesories, planning parties, refashioning, repurposing and sometimes breaking out the drill and hammer. We try most anything and most times it works, but sometimes it fails. We love the blogging world and how it's inspired us and given us a chance to improve our skills. Now, we want to share with everyone else. Come check us out at Creative Mommas!!!!

Now for our tutorial......

These are some burp cloths and a wipe case that we made for a friend.

Here is another set that also has a nursing cover, a changing pad, and an embellished bag.

1. Trace the top and bottom of the wipe case on the wrong side of fabric leaving extra space all around. ( that's for folding down on the sides)

2. Trace the top and the bottom of the wipe case on the batting. (You can trace right against the wipe cover, you don't need extra for the sides.)

3. Glue the batting to the top and the bottom of wipe case.

4. Glue the fabric to the top and bottom of the wipe case. Fold the extra down on the sides and glue those too.

5. Take your ribbon and measure it the length on the top of the wipe case. (Leave a little extra on the sides so you can glue the edges down.) Glue to the top of the wipe case.

6. If you have any extra ribbon or fabric hanging over the edges. make sure to trim it.

7. Take your trim and make sure it's long enough to wrap around the 3 sides of the top and the 3 sides of the bottom. You don't need any trim for the "spine" if you will.

If there is enough length, start at the spine and glue just a little there and then start wrapping around the edges of the top. Glue a little at a time.

Then do the same for the bottom edges.

This is what it should look like.

8. Measure the length of the spine and add an inch. Measure the width of the spine and add an inch. Cut a strip of fabric those dimensions. It should be about 12 in. x 2 in. You just need enough to fold under the edges of the strip of fabric. 9. Fold over one edge. Glue it.

10. Fold over the other edge making sure your strip of fabric is wide enough to cover the spine of the wipe case. Then glue it. Do the same thing with the top and bottom of the strip.

11. Glue it to the spine making sure to cover the beginnings and endings of the trim.

12. Last, you add the button. Decide where you want it to be and then cut out a little hole in the ribbon and the batting for the back of the button to sit in. Then glue it in.

And you're done!

This is what we're giving away. A Wipe Case and a set of 3 coordinating burp cloths.

Thanks for letting us stop by and check out the store for more burp cloths and other baby things.

Last week for our church's Relief Society Christmas party I taught the lovely ladies how to make my posy pins. It was so much work, but it was totally worth it just to see everyone so happy with their "own" creations.

Before teaching the class I made a wide variety of gifts using the posy pins. Today, I am going to show you how these simple flowers can be used to turn a drab gift box into a fab present, how an ordinary elastic headband can be transformed into an amazing hairpiece, AND how upholstry fabrics plus a posy here and there can make a sweet bag.

Disclaimer: I am not going to show a tutorial today because there are so many better tutorials out there. So I will give credit where credit it due, so check out here, and here, and here.

First, I am going to showcase different ways that posies can be used to enhance gift wrapping.

Wrapping Idea #1: Spice up a box. I used my posies to add some pretty flare to an ordinary white jewelry box. Didn't the posy totally spice up the box?

Wrapping Idea #2 Find a unique way to "wrap" a present. If any of you know me then you will now that I have a weird obsession with Chinese boxes--I have a lot of them, a lot (no exaggeration). They are such a unique shape and they are perfect for most small gifts.

Wrapping Idea #3: Use a posy to spice up a gift tag. posies also provide a great addition to Christmas gift tags. A few inches of ric-rak, a posy, and added embellishments make these gift tags--awesome!

FYI, if you want to surprise your giftees with a little extra gift attach the posy to a pin and then stick it to the tag. That way after Christmas they can ditch the tag and attach the pin to their favorite coat, bag, or scarf.

Now for the fun stuff!

Being thrifty is not always something I have done, now with a baby, two sets of families and a mortage it just seems like I have to be more creative with my gifts, without losing the thoughtfulness. So here are some ideas of gifts you can make or embellish by just adding a simply posy to the present.

Gift idea #1: Make thrifty gifts by giving a present some added flare. I took an old Clinique make up bag and spiced it up by glueing a cute posy to it. Some of you may not gift something like this, but my thought is: why remake the same thing over when I can just give something I don't use? My sister's and I are totally into the thrifty gift idea--it is cheap, easy, and if we add our own little flare to the present it is still very special and unique.

Gift Idea #3: Give ornaments that match that giftee's Christmas Tree. Two posies can also be attached together to make simple flower ornaments. Cute, huh?

Gift Idea #4: Find vintage necklaces and spice them up with some modern flare. One of my favorites. A posy pin can accent a simple necklace, the posy can also be removed so it is just worn as a pin on a purse or jacket.

Gift Idea #5 Posies are also great on bags. A few weeks ago when I was home I stopped by my parents local thrift store and picked up a whole stock of upholstry remnants.

Since then I have made blankets, toys, and this bag. Using the already set holes I used a scarf for the handle, and posies for some added embellishments.

Gift Idea #6 Taking "drab" home decor and jazzing it up. This maybe my favorite gift. First, I loooove pillows, and secondly, I love how a plain robin's egg blue pillow can be transformed into such a beautiful accent.

So there you have it. A few simple but fab Christmas ideas sure to make any chicka very happy!

P.S. There will be another giveaway tomorrow so don't forget to come check it out!

Between working on custom orders I have managed to find some spare time to work on a few more items for my shop!

Soooo, from now until December 19th I will be offering 10% off of all orders!!!

use promocode: SPUNKYJUNKY

Hope you are all enjoying this fabulous Holiday season, and make sure to come back tomorrow for a wonderful {Tutorial Tuesday} I will be providing you will LOTS of ideas for easy homemade gifts--best part--I will be using my fabric posies on every gift!!!!